Muslim Democrats Join
Party’s Soul-Searching
By Tahir Ali
Deval
Patrick with delegates |
Worcester:
It had rained all week in Massachusetts, and on the first
Saturday in June, 2006 nothing had changed, except the DEMs
were pouring into town. The Convention Center was soon to
be flooded with Democrats and Delegates alike from all over
Massachusetts converging into the City of Worcester to attend
the Democratic State Convention. Parwez Wahid and Farooq
Mirza - of Middlesex County - were among the many delegates
that filled the Convention Center.
This was an important opportunity for all concerned Americans
including Muslim Americans to participate in a collective
soul searching to find out a way out and forward for the
Democratic Party, which, many observers believe, has lost
its voice and backbone because it has lost its moorings
and ideals. That loss is clearly evident from the much-discussed
inability of the key Democrats – from Hillary Clinton
to Joseph Biden – to challenge the Republican Party
on war, immigration, civil liberties, or economy. Indeed
leading Democrats including Howard Dean celebrated denial
of port-management contract to a UAE Company. As reported
by Voice of America “Democratic Party Chairman Howard
Dean says blocking the ports deal was a great victory in
the war on terror.”
Many rank and file Democrats were horrified by the Islamophobic
bigotry of their own leaders. The Massachusetts DEMs had
come together to elect new leaders but also to find answers
to politically and morally troubling questions.
The climax of the event was definitely the outcome of the
gubernatorial race when Deval L. Patrick was announced as
the front-runner, picking up 58% of the Delegates vote and
the nomination of the 2006 Massachusetts Democratic Party.
Tom Reilly and Chris Gabrieli who both got over 15% of the
vote will also be on the Democratic Primary ballot in September
in the race for governor.
School Committee Chairman Charles Motta, and Boston City
Councilor Charles Yancey both delegates, appeared jubilant
of the outcome and hoped that “candidates will bow
out in favor of Deval Patrick.”
Mayor Timothy P. Murray – who had earlier in May proclaimed
“Islamic Day” in Worcester – was the endorsed
candidate for Lt. Governor. William Galvin, the endorsed
candidate for Secretary of State, who has been in the State
Government for 30 years, assured me, “I don’t
take it for granted. We still have to work for the nomination.”
Patrick, impressed his mission upon the Delegates in his
opening remarks, “I didn’t come here today to
do some backroom deal or to make a last minute rules change
or to play any of those games. That’s just more politics-as-usual.
And politics-as-usual is what I came here to change.”
The theme “politics-as-usual” was woven into
his acceptance speech as well: “We began this journey
14 months ago because we knew that more years of politics-as-usual
in Massachusetts are not going to be acceptable to the voters
or the party. “Politics-as-usual says favor the insider,
or favor the big money. Politics-as-usual says vote not
for whom we want, but for whom the wise guys think somebody
else will want. And that has failed us every time.”
He then went on to say at length, “Politics-as-usual
will continue to fail us because Republicans have no interest
in leadership,” and hinting at the national aspirations
of the current governor (Romney) and the past (Cellucci),
he added, “And in the midst of all this, you see how
we keep electing republican governors more interested in
having the job than doing the job.” Toward the end
of his speech he asserted, “Lasting change requires
candor, visionary leadership and a commitment to get things
done. And that’s what I mean to bring to work every
day – in this campaign and in the corner office –
the best that I have and the best that I am.”
Interestingly, in this regard, the Muslim Democrats are
willing to name and discuss those difficult issues - war,
immigration, and civil rights - that some of the Democratic
leaders don't even acknowledge. Muslim Democrats can actually
play an important role in reviving the spirit and enhancing
electoral chances of their party.
Harvard educated Patrick, a successful lawyer and civil
rights prosecutor, who served in the US Justice Department
under President Clinton, was also in the Legal Defense of
the NAACP. He looked directly into my eyes and listened
carefully when I introduced myself as the chairman of the
PR Committee of the Worcester Islamic Center (WIC) and American
Muslim Alliance (AMA). I assured him of the American Muslim
support and hoped he will unseat the current occupiers of
the corner office that profess “wire-tapping mosques”.
I spent considerable time in the Press Room, talking to
various newsmen, including Jeffrey McNary of the Rolling
Stone Magazine, who took keen interest as I commented: “Our
State and the nation’s economy is sinking like the
Titanic, and our moral leadership is overturning like the
Poseidon, we need Deval Patrick here and someone like him
at the nation’s helm to steer us out of troubled waters.”
As I was walking in the rain on the flooded streets toward
my car, my spirits were not damped because I saw a ray of
hope for the moral rekindling of the Democratic Party.
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